Music Sharing Service LimeWire Finally Forced to Quit

LimeWire had a noble dream — to create a service that let users share music files without arousing the ire of the music industry.

Like Napster before it, LimeWire hoped to work with the record labels to find the sweet spot between rampant piracy and legal purchases.

And, like Napster, LimeWire found the record companies only wanted to talk in court.

Today LimeWire officially shut down the core of its software, which lets users connect to one another and share music files.

A spokesperson told Peter Kafka of All Things D, “While this is not our ideal path, we hope to work with the music industry in moving forward. We look forward to embracing necessary changes and collaborating with the entire music industry in the future.”

Where does LimeWire, headquartered here in NYC, go from here? Hopefully they’ll take a lesson from Obama first term and wise up to the fact that not all disputes can be settked through cooperation.